Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. Contents vii
3. Preface ix
4. Introduction: Halls of Mirror 1
5. Part One. “Write What You Know”/“Show Don’t Tell” (1890–1960)
6. 1. Autobardolatry: Modernist Fiction, Progressive Education, “Creative Writing” 77
7. 2. Understanding Iowa: The Religion of Institutionalization 127
8. Part Two. “Find Your Voice” (1960–1975)
9. 3. The Social Construction of Unreality: Creative Writing in the Open System 183
10. 4. Our Phonocentrism: Finding the Voice of the (Minority) Storyteller 227
11. Part Three. Creative Writing at Large (1975–2008)
12. 5. The Hidden Injuries of Craft: Mass Higher Education and Lower-Middle-Class Modernism 273
13. 6. Art and Alma Mater: The Family, the Nation, and the Primal Scene of Instruction 321
14. 7. Miniature America; or, The Program in Transplanetary Perspective 361
15. Afterword: Systematic Excellence 399
16. Notes 411
17. Index 456